While Jason stared out the window pondering his life decisions, down on the streets of Carrow, Sparks and Vance crouched behind a patrol car, wondering how they were going to free the precinct.
Sparks blocked her eyes with a hand. “Those lights are blinding.”
Vance squinted toward the car. “I can’t see who the driver is.”
Sparks let her empty magazine fall to the ground. “I’m out.”
She shoved a fresh clip into her gun. “This is my last mag.”
The driver’s door opened and a figure stepped out of the car. “What do you have, Detective?” the figure said.
Vance recognized the voice and stood immediately. “Sergeant Krowe, sir.”
Sparks rose to her feet. “Sergeant.”
Sergeant Krowe walked up to them. “Why are you all still out here?”
Sergeant Krowe walked to the back of his unmarked car and popped the trunk. Inside lay a submachine gun. He grabbed it.
“Fall in,” he barked.
Other officers fell in behind him as he slammed the trunk shut.
As the men formed up behind him, Sparks and Vance checked the chambers of their guns as they flanked Sergeant Krowe. He adjusted his grip on the submachine gun slung across his chest. Around him, the air was thick with the smell of exhaust and heavy gunfire.
He looked in the precinct’s direction.
“We are going in,” Sergeant Krowe growled.
***
Inside the precinct, Swarn’s silhouette was illuminated by the glow from the electric field surrounding Flea’s cell. Swarn, surrounded by his army of creatures, raised an arm.
His swarnlings marched toward the cell.
Each leapt onto the bars of the cells. The creatures shrieked and held tight as their bodies popped and crackled. The lights spluttered. Flames erupted from their bodies. Still, they did not let go.
More swarnlings attached themselves to the cell bars.
The lights flickered once more before going out completely.
Sergeant Krowe and his men entered the lobby just as the lights went out. Everyone immediately reached for their tactical lights.
“It’s too quiet in here,” Bella whispered.
Sergeant Krowe steadied his light against his submachine gun, sweeping it over walls riddled with bullet holes. Another flashlight highlighted dead SWAT members sprawled across the floor.
“My men,” Sergeant Krowe mumbled.
Something moved ahead.
Krowe raised a fist, then pointed a finger in the direction.
Bella aimed her gun.
Vance followed her lead and shined his light toward the sound.
The light fell on a figure curled up in a corner.
Bella and Vance walked closer.
“Hands in the air,” Bella barked.
The figure lifted its head.
“April,” Bella murmured.
April’s face was bloody and tears ran down her cheeks. Terror was written all over her. She screamed and bolted past Bella, slamming into Vance. She wrapped her arms around his waist.
Sergeant Krowe placed a hand on her shoulder, and she trembled. “Officer Warrens—”
April hesitated and then bolted from the building.
An officer started after her, but Krowe stopped him. “Let her go. Look at her. She’s scared out of her mind.”
Bella looked up at Vance. “Can you blame her?”
“No,” Vance said.
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Sergeant Krowe stepped over the shattered front desk. Glass crunched under his boots in the dead silence of the precinct. He raised his submachine gun, the tactical light cutting through the darkness.
“Check your corner,” Krowe whispered.
Behind him, the officers formed a tight formation.
“Sir,” Bella gasped.
Her light shook as it landed on a trail of thick, green slime leading toward the holding cells.
“I think it’s going after Flea, and it didn’t use the doors.”
Krowe followed the beam.
A hole had been punched through the reinforced cinderblock wall leading to the interior corridor.
“Whatever it is, it just leaned its weight against the masonry until it gave,” Vance muttered. “Like it walked through the wall.”
“Eyes up,” Krowe commanded, forcing his own heart rate down. “This is our house. We know every inch. If it’s still in here, we corner it and kill it.”
“Sir?” Bella asked, shocked.
“A lot of good men lost their lives tonight, Sparks, for no good reason,” Krowe said, looking forward. “For that we show no mercy. Understood?”
“Yes, sir!” they all whispered.
Krowe gave the signal.
They all pressed forward.
As they crossed the threshold into the dark hallway, a low, wet chittering vibrated through the floorboards from the ceiling above.
Krowe didn’t look back.
He gripped his submachine gun and moved deeper into the ruin of his command.
***
Swarn walked through the creatures’ charred carcasses, pushing the dead aside. He looked into the cell and saw Flea still asleep.
He grabbed the bars.
They shook and concrete particles shifted.
He snatched the cell door out of the wall, tossing it behind him.
A swarnling cried out.
Swarn glanced over his shoulder.
The cell door had crushed one to the floor.
He loomed over the bed, watching Flea’s breathing.
He glanced at the smaller swarnling following him. “Get him.”
The creature clicked.
Several swarnlings entered the cell.
They grabbed Flea and spread their wings.
There was a sound of glass shattering down the hallway.
Swarn turned his head.
He stepped into the hallway.
His body began clicking.
He melted into the shadows.
The clicking continued in the darkness.
The swarnlings flew off in the opposite direction from Swarn with Flea.
***
Outside Precinct 13, a few blocks away, the swarnlings had barely slowed Spant down.
He had one pinned under a knee and was about to strike a fatal blow.
One creature launched itself at him, landing on his back. It sank its claws into Spant’s back and its teeth into Spant’s neck.
“Aaaargh!”
He bared his teeth.
The crawler spun in his direction.
“Spant!” Link’s voice yelled through the comms.
Spant reached across his shoulder with his right hand.
He grabbed the swarnling by its jaw, crushing it.
The creature’s eyes bulged and it screamed.
“I’m fine, Link,” he said.
It dug its claws and teeth deeper into Spant.
His hand trembled from the pain.
With one furious pull, he snatched the thing from his back.
He raised it to his face.
Its jaws held a patch of his skin.
“Is this what LJ felt?”
He wrapped his other hand around its head.
“Did you tear chunks out of her too?”
He squeezed his hands together.
Wet crack.
Its head split open before it could make a sound.
He stood, clutching the back of his neck.
His eyes dropped to the creature under him.
He stilled.
It clicked and tried to spread its wings.
Spant watched it struggle.
He had broken the thing’s back earlier.
He raised a fist.
Slam.
Green goo sprayed and crept into the crater in the pavement made by his fist.
Two swarnlings crept up behind him.
They were silent and moved slowly.
They paused and turned to each other.
They tilted their heads and began clicking again.
They began to straighten slowly.
Spant rose and watched them over his shoulder.
When they reached full height, the clicking stopped.
Their wings spread.
They took a step and roared, snapping their jaws.
He turned to them, smiling.
“What are you waiting for? Come and get me.”
Behind them, Link’s crawler hovered quietly.
“They’re yours.”
Their eyes flashed red.
They leapt into the air.
The crawler sprayed gas over them.
They froze instantly.
Two beams fired.
The frozen creatures shattered into tiny pieces.
Spant walked away as the crawler flew through the debris.
***
Back at Precinct 13, Krowe was mid-step when something grabbed his boot.
He signaled for everyone to stop.
Bella shone her light on his boots.
Someone gasped.
A bloody hand had grabbed the sergeant’s boot.
She illuminated the rest of the body.
It was an overnight officer, Marcus Daniels... and he was barely breathing.
At first, none of them noticed the low clicking around them.
His injured body was bleeding from several spots.
Bella dropped to her knees, pressing her hands to his wounds.
“It’s Daniels. We need to get him to a doctor,” she whispered.
Krowe motioned to someone in the back.
“Dixon. Get him out of here.”
Dixon stepped forward.
Krowe handed him his keys.
“My car’s out front. Rush him to the hospital.”
He looked Dixon in the eyes.
“Get back here as soon as possible.”
“Yes, sir,” Dixon said.
Vance slid his shoulder under Daniels’ arm and lifted him with a grunt.
Blood dripped to the floor.
Vance steadied Daniels as Dixon grabbed him under the arms.
Daniels pressed his flashlight into Dixon’s hand.
The clicking became louder.
Daniels’ legs trembled, nearly giving out on him.
The flashlight fell from his hands.
“It’s back,” Dixon cried out.
Bella whipped her head around.
“What was that?”
Her grip on her pistol tightened.
Krowe raised a finger to his lips.
“We are not alone in here,” he whispered.
Krowe pointed to Dixon.
“Get him out of here, now.”
Daniels’ boots squeaked as Dixon all but dragged him, running out of the building.
He’s not coming back, Bella thought, watching them disappear into the darkness.
The clicking echoed louder through the walls.
A chill ran down Bella’s back.
Vance noticed and steadied her hands.
“Stay by me,” he mouthed to her.
She nodded.
“You’re not dying tonight, Sparks,” he told her.
The clicking stopped.
***
At Michelle’s apartment, LJ double-checked the locked windows and closed the curtains in her room.
She sat on her bed and wrapped a blanket around her.
In her hands, she held her phone.
On the screen, Spant’s fist punched through a swarnling.
She smiled from ear to ear.
“Kill them all!”
She rubbed the bandage on her neck.
The two swarnlings began to click.
They straightened.
Spant turned.
LJ pulled the blanket tighter.